Announced on January 9, 2020, the game is receiving an expansion with two parts over the course of the year. [19] Many of the region's towns and cities feature Pokémon Gyms stylized like football stadiums, which show off both Dynamaxing and Gigantamaxing, implemented by the Galar Pokémon League Chairman, Rose. The guides below should be extra helpful for new on old trainers alike. The player occasionally battles Trainers in cities, towns, along routes, and in the Wild Area. [3] Like with Pokémon Sun and Moon, Pokémon previously introduced in older games, such as Weezing, gain regional Galarian Forms with new typings, stats, and appearances. [23] One track was composed by Toby Fox, best known for being the creator of Undertale. ACB [2] The player controls a young trainer who goes on a quest to catch and train creatures known as Pokémon, and win battles against other trainers. LastLevels. During the direct, new Pokémon were shown, the two cover legendaries were revealed and various informations about the gameplay were shown both in a trailer and via various Game Freak employees who hosted the direct. Game director Shigeru Ohmori described it as a more modern setting. and Let's Go, Eevee! There are many Legendary Pokémon found in the area in a new cooperative mode where players explore the Pokémon Dens that only show the entrance in the main game. [28][29] Masuda confirmed that all three companies involved in the development, Nintendo, Game Freak and The Pokémon Company, agreed to cut down the National Dex. and Let's Go, Eevee!, to be released on a home game console. [2], Several new features for the games are also firsts for the series, including cooperative raid encounters, akin to those seen in Pokémon Go; the Wild Area, a fully explorable open world area with free camera movement and dynamic weather, which has implications on which Pokémon species appear at a given time;[3] and "Dynamaxing" and "Gigantamaxing", both of which temporarily allow Pokémon to grow to larger sizes. During their subsequent visit to the region's Pokémon Professor, Magnolia, they convince Leon to endorse them to take part in the Gym Challenge. The games are also compatible with Pokémon Home, an online cloud storage service for storing Pokémon, released in February 2020. and Let's Go, Eevee! After defeating Leon, the player and Hop return to the Slumbering Weald to return Zacian and Zamazenta's artifacts to their rightful place. The player will be able to train certain Pokémon to Gigantamax, including their starters. [40] Between both expansion packs, more than 200 pre-existing Pokémon that weren't available at launch will be added into Sword and Shield. [4][5] Gigantamaxing is limited to select Pokémon and feature different forms from the Pokémon's normal appearance. The player then faces and defeats Leon in a battle and becomes the new Champion of the Galar region. Even if it remained the fifth best-selling Nintendo Switch game, the landscape around it changed quite a bit. The player and Hop return to the Slumbering Weald and secure the aid of the legendary Pokémon, Zacian and Zamazenta, to defeat Chairman Rose and Eternatus, after which the player catches Eternatus. [6] A new mechanic called "Poké Jobs" tasks the player's Pokémon with completing requests, such as assisting in construction or cooking, to gain experience or rare items. [25], Unlike other core Pokémon games, not all existing Pokémon species appear or are usable in Sword and Shield. and Let's Go, Eevee!, to be released on a home game console. [30], The games were originally teased through a special message by The Pokémon Company president Tsunekazu Ishihara during Nintendo's E3 2017 presentation, where Ishihara mentioned that Game Freak was working on a new core series Pokémon role-playing game for Nintendo Switch but that it would not be released for more than a year. New customization options for the player character have been added, like outerwear and other accessories. Publisher(s) During the player's time on the Isle, they will encounter many strong Trainers, including a new rival in Klara or Avery, depending on their version. [9] Home is the only path to bringing Pokémon from previous generations into Sword and Shield; this includes Let's Go, Pikachu! The next day, before the battle between the player and Leon can commence, Chairman Rose awakens the legendary Pokémon Eternatus in an attempt to harness its power to provide energy to Galar, triggering a second Darkest Day. 02 [41] The explorable area introduced in The Isle of Armor draws inspiration from the Isle of Man while the area in The Crown Tundra is based on Scotland. Sword and Shield only support direct game-to-game connectivity between themselves. Depending on which version of the game the player has, some gyms will be a different type. "[26] By 2019, Masuda explained that the sheer number of species, combined with the need to produce assets relating to new features such as the Dynamaxing system, preserve game balance, and maintain a degree of quality made it infeasible to include all existing Pokémon without extensively lengthening development time. Eight of the game's cities and towns are homes to stadiums housing "Gym Leaders", powerful Trainers specializing in certain types of Pokémon; beating a Gym Leader gives the player a "Badge". Pokémon Sword[a] and Pokémon Shield[b] are 2019 role-playing video games developed by Game Freak and published by The Pokémon Company and Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. They also said that "there is... a lot in Sword and Shield that doesn't feel like it couldn't have been achieved on the Nintendo 3DS. Ultimate as the fastest-selling Switch games. There is a new battle style called Restricted Sparring to hold back trainers with trained Pokémon. [7] In addition, Pokémon native to the game's region can be transferred to the games from the Nintendo 3DS app Pokémon Bank, Pokémon Go, and Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! The Expansion Pass became available to pre-purchase on the same day with an update that added a Galarian Slowpoke event among glitch fixes. Tapsell commented "this is a new generation of Pokémon games that promises much, with brilliant new Pokémon, a raft of intricate system-tinkering for long-term fans and a series-first stab at an 'open-world' area. As their quest continues, the player and Hop learn about two Legendary Pokémon who saved Galar from an ancient crisis called the Darkest Day and deduce that they are the same Pokémon they encountered in the Slumbering Weald. PEGI The Slowpoke will evolve with an item from each expansion. [48][49] However, data miners have found apparent evidence that the animations and wireframe models in Sword and Shield appear to have been re-used from Pokémon Sun and Moon and Pokémon X and Y, causing #GameFreakLied to become trending on Twitter in November 2019. and Let's Go, Eevee!, the previous games in the series which were released for the Switch. After emerging victorious the player will face the Champion of the Galar region. Approximately 200 Game Freak employees worked directly on the games while around 100 Creatures Inc. employees worked on 3D modeling, with an additional 100 involved in debugging and game testing. "[67], In Japan, Sword and Shield sold two million copies during their first three days on sale, surpassing Super Smash Bros. ", Conversely, Chris Tapsell for Eurogamer criticized the games, commenting that it lacked substance and did not live up to previous titles in the series. [68][69] In the US, they sold more than two million copies in their opening weekend. The game sold 16.06 million units as of December 2019, making it the fifth best-selling game on the Nintendo Switch in roughly a month. Particular praise was aimed at the creature design, new features, and the emphasis on simplicity, player freedom, and streamlined encounters, although some criticized the game's smaller Pokédex and a perceived lack of polish or depth. "[66] James Grebey and Tom Philip of GQ also felt somewhat underwhelmed, praising the Wild Area but stating that the games were "satisfying but pedestrian" and feel like "proof of concept [with] another stage of evolution left for console Pokémon games". The second part of the expansion is called The Crown Tundra, releasing in Fall 2020 and is themed around Exploration. Among his inventions are the Cram-o-matic, a robot resembling the Pokémon, Cramorant. [51] Kotaku's Gita Jackson summarized the backlash as "the tension of a desire to indulge in nostalgia against a desire to experience more complexity. Sword and Shield is a very different Pokemon game in many ways, so we thought we'd explain how to do its most confusing things. Weather across the Wild Area changes regularly. Afterward, the two explore a forest called the Slumbering Weald but are driven off by a powerful Pokémon. Despite this, Sword and Shield received generally positive reviews from critics. Average score of 2 user reviews. As with all regions, Galar consists of a number of cities and towns connected by "Routes"; however, there is also an open world area in the center of the region known as the "Wild Area", a concept new to the series. The Pokémon Sword and Shield Expansion Pass physical bundle pack, which includes both expansion packs preloaded, will be released on November 6, 2020. They then are challenged to a battle by the Legendary Pokémon and allowed to catch it, while Hop follows Zamazenta/Zacian back to the Slumbering Weald and calms it down, being chosen by it as its Trainer. Name : Pokémon Sword/Shield. Credits • Gallery • Cheats • Videos • Soundtrack. Nintendo Switch Some Pokémon can be Gigantamaxed with a special G-Max Move replacing their Max Move of a certain type. Originally teased at E3 2017 and announced in February 2019, Pokémon Sword and Shield were released on November 15, 2019. [35], A promotional crossover between Sword and Shield and Tetris 99 occurred from November 8–11, during which a limited-time unlockable theme based on the games was available. The largest change is that Wild Pokémon will roam the grass in the overworld. This will massively increase its HP and turn its moves into the powerful Max Moves. and Let's Go, Eevee! One of the first ideas the team had was making Pokémon giant because you now could play Pokémon in the TV in a big screen, so then Ohmori thought about having a sword and a shield Pokémon to defeat the giant Pokémon; that's how the games titles were decided.[22][23]. ESRB The player and Hop work with the Gym Leaders to subdue the Dynamax Pokémon and then track down and confront the brothers. The idea of strength and striving to be the greatest and strongest was one of the core themes that Game Freak used in designing the games. Pokemon Sword and Shield Character Customization: How to Change Your Hairstyle, Eyes Color, and More How to Get Bottle Caps and Gold Bottle Caps in Pokemon Sword and Shield How to Catch Ditto 01 The games largely play the same as the previous Pokémon games. Across the expansion, the game will receive two explorable locations similar to the Wild Area, the addition of 200 Pokémon new to the Galar region, new Gigantamax forms, new customization options for the player, including options to look like Chairman Rose or Marnie, and a new battle challenge once the content of both parts of the expansion is complete.